2-0: Paranaense’s win causes chaos in group B

Ang Athletico Paranaense beat this Wednesday 2-0 at Freedomthat he reached out to the leadership of Group B of Libertadores Cupwhere all the meanings of this stage were postponed for the last day, as the four rivals were left with options to move forward.

After the first half in which they completely dominated but failed to score, the team from the Brazilian city of Curitiba prevailed with goals in the second half from Argentinean Tomás Cuello, his first goal in eleven games included the Paranaense, and from Uruguayan Agustín Canobbio, his first in ten games.

As a result, Paranaense rose to second place in the group classification, with 7 points, the same as the Paraguayan team but with a worse goal difference, while The Strongest from Bolivia and Caracas from Venezuela share third place. , with 6 points. , only one of the leaders.

The two will qualify for the round of 16 of the Libertadores, the club that will advance to the next round in the Copa Sudamericana and the only one eliminated from the group, for the same reason, will be determined on the last day, next Wednesday, when Libertad will play hosted by The Strongest and Paranaense in Caracas.

A relief for ‘rookie’ Scolari

The result was a relief for the Brazilian team’s new coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who took over two weeks ago after the team from Curitiba lost 5-0 on their visit to The Strongest, and have yet to show good result.

The defeat, in part, ended Libertad’s series of three victories in its final matches and allowed it to lead the Paraguayan Championship with a six-point advantage over Cerro Porteño, its immediate pursuer.

Paranaense, with a strong offensive quartet and their synthetic floor pitch at the Arena da Baixada stadium, started to hit from the first minute and with attacks, Neck, Brazilian striker Pablo and Uruguayan midfielder David Terans will continue to take over the attack.

But despite the constant pressure, the Brazilian team showed difficulties in reaching the dangerous and overloaded Neck, who received all the balls and finished several times, but without a goal.

Paranaense was the clear dominator in the first half, but without creating danger and unable to overcome Libertad’s defensive barrier, they limited themselves to rolling the ball without reaching the goal defended by Martín Silva.

His clearest chance came in the 44th minute, when Cuello sent the ball into the area, Martín Silva made a mistake and blocked Pablo as he was about to open the scoring. The Curitiba team maintained their pressure from the start of the second half, but with Canobbio and Terans who understood each other better and created more dangerous chances.

But when Libertad tried to react and surprise with counterattacks, which allowed him to land dangerously twice, Neck opened the scoring for Paranaense 10 minutes into the second half with a blast from outside the area that ended up with Silva.

Visiting changes that didn’t help

Libertad coach Daniel Garnero immediately made three changes to make his team more dangerous, with the entry of Merlini, Caballero, Mendieta and Roque Santa Cruz. And again when the Paraguayan team tried to react, Canobbio raised the score for the locals to 2-0 in 23 minutes in a retaliatory attack started by Terans and which he received inside the area and shot at the exit. by Silva.

With a slight advantage and in the middle of a disputed game that seemed to have disappeared into the hands of the referee, who showed seven yellow cards, Scolari chose to manage the result and, with just ten minutes left, Terans went to the shower and Erick boosted the marking with the steering wheel.

The strategy paid off and Paranaense neutralized all attempts of Libertad’s reaction and guaranteed a win that left them a good chance of qualifying for the round of 16.